Belt Up, our Style Not Age Challenge for November

Yes, it's that time of the month again! Here we all are rising to this month's challenge where Jacqui has prompted us to Belt Up! My outfit is one that I gathered together in September and yet never managed to showcase on the blog for various reasons so here it is now in all its technicolour glory! But as always, let me share the outfits from my fashionable friends first...

This month's feature is pretty much a story of two halves where Hilda and Jacqui are also touting an autumn vibe along with their belts whereas myself and Emma are pushing the boat out colourwise! Read Hilda's backstory here on Over the Hilda blog.

Rich chocolate hues work perfectly with Jacqui's tan leather belt in her seasonal look. Find out what she's been up to this week in her latest blog post at Mummabstylish. 

Emma's really delivering the wow factor this month with her fabulous two-tone jacket and golden accessories. This outfit shows she's ready for the party season right now! Catch up with all of her latest news on her blog, Style Splash. 

My colourful offering is all pre-loved, so excuse me for feeling a bit smug. The jeans, belt and cardigan were finds from Truro charity shops when I was passing through in September. The linen shirt is very old and the Dr Marten boots were from Vinted. I totally understand it this isn't your kind of thing as it truly is a Marmite outfit - obviously I love it, but it's okay if you don't.

The cardigan had been lovingly hand knitted which obviously adds even more appeal for me as I truly appreciate the time and effort it would have taken to creat this colourfest of a cardi. 

The boots are hopefully going to add cheer to my winter dressing as well as being comfortable. I do love a clumpy boot and these do have big heavy soles hinting at longevity too.

I was so excited to discover these hand painted jeans in the rack of a charity shop during one of my browsing sessions. The are many sizes too big for me, but I went straight away to the local haberdashery and bought some wide elastic to add to the inside of the waistband. Between the elastic and the jazzy yellow belt I managed to pull the waist in sufficiently to carry off this baggy legged look. 

Nothing new with my accessories here. My sunglasses are old from Radley London and rings are both old too. 

Many thanks for joining us for this month's style challenge. It's a wonderfully diverse spread of outfits that we're sharing with you again. Maybe you'll find some inspiration here?

Looking forward to seeing you again!

Anna x

Wear Your Greens our SNA challenge for March

Hello again, and welcome to this month's Style Not Age challenge! Every month we take it in turns to choose a theme for us to portray in our very own way. It's fun to see how differently we approach our subject reflecting our own personalities. This month Jacqui came up with Wear Your Greens so let's start with her, shall we?

Jacqui's outfit in fresh green and white is from Primark with shoes from New Look. As ever, Jacqui exudes a healthy glow, her smile the finishing touch in this spring green feature. Read her back story on Mummabstylish blog.

Emma's suit (from Monki) is a fabulous mix of green and fuchsia, the contrasting colours popping against each other.  The pussycat bow blouse is from The Hippie Shake and handbag is Fenella Smith. See more from her on the Style Splash blog.

Hilda has shopped her wardrobe for this month's challenge. You see her here in her favourite role as Grandma to baby Nova - the best accessory ever comes from Hilda! Catch up on all her latest news on Over The Hilda blog.

I bought this rather fabulous trouser suit from Vinted. It's by Joanie Clothing and can still be found on their website here. The print is called Art Nouveau in this glorious green and coral colourway. I bought it as new, still with tags attached for the price of £75 and it currently retails at £160. The Joanie website is a wealth of vintage style clothing and is well worth a browse.

My coral chiffon and ruffled top was also a Vinted find, but from last year. The pairing is a great match colourwise and earned me a few compliments on the day. Fiona and I took ourselves off to the beach just 100 metres from work to capture this flamboyant look. She said the print was very William Morris and I have to agree with her.

My cute little circular handbag is by Dune. I bought it from TK Maxx a couple of years ago and it's been a useful addition to my bag collection - when you need a yellow bag, well no other colour will do!

It's a year now since I bought these floral Dr Marten boots (from Vinted). I've worn them such a lot but they still look pretty clean and smart, don't you think?

Dressing up for work is the best perk of my job. I do so love playing to the gallery ('scuse the pun) day after day. Wearing my greens will forever come to mind about this suit as it was the first time I've worn it, but most definitely won't be my last.

My thanks to Fiona for risking getting her feet wet on the rising tide. It was the 5 o'clock rush hour and we were in the midst of buses meeting the Firethorn and guests returning from a day out - the rush added a buzz to our shoot.

Many thanks to you for joining us once again. Did we inspire you to Wear Your Greens? I certainly enjoyed this one - hope you did too!

                                                                           Anna x

Primark trouser suit

This is my outfit of the week, a Primark trouser suit that I've had for almost a year now but rarely worn. Initially that was because the trousers were too long and I finally got around to altering those in the spring when I was having my sewing moment. Thereafter I wasn't terribly inspired by the two piece simply because it was a) very plain and b) quite boxy in shape giving a masculine outline. 

Anyway, I've recently aired it a couple of times and haven't exactly fallen in love with it, but am trying my best to convince myself that it deserves to be worn. What do you think?

I feel that the citrus colours work really well together making the whole outfit pop which is a point in its favour. I've worn my orange and lime Dr Martens to add a funky edge too.

I bought this fabulous brooch especially to add as a permanent feature to the suit as I feel it really does lift it out of the ordinary. The maker is Caroline Kelly Foreman, one of the jewellers we stock at Gallery Tresco - you can see the full range of her work on her instagram page here. Caroline works in recycled aluminium and resin to great effect and sells through her Etsy shop too.

So what do you think of this outfit of the day? Is it a tangerine dream? The jury's out on my part and I'd love to have your opinion to help me decide if this is a keeper. I probably didn't help myself by wearing this on one of the hottest days of the year! The lime green (shows up as more lemon here) Primark bodysuit acted as a second skin, one that got hotter and hotter as the day went on... 

                                                                        Anna x

Another shot of colour this week!

Hello again! I missed showing you this outfit a few weeks ago, so am going to share it with you today. The swirly psychedelic maxi dress was a Vinted purchase, bought because I love all of these colours together plus it goes so well with my current favourite Dr Marten boots.

My orange jeans jacket is a great extra layer and works beautifully with this palette too. The brand is Forever 21 and once again was from Vinted. I love the crop length with the dress.

The orange stretch belt was from Amazon - it's perfect for adding a bit of definition to the shirtwaister. I wore an orange tee shirt underneath the dress as it was a day of mixed weather so this gave me an extra layer of warmth at the start of the day.

I love how the dress and boots works so well together!

There's nothing new with my jewellery; two perspex rings, shark's tooth pendant and River Island sunglasses are all old.

My thanks to Fiona who joined me for an after work session of walking and blog photography. We always manage to have a laugh and it's usually at my expense! Thanks for joining me and look forward to seeing you again soon!

                                                                    Anna x

One suit, three ways

Hi there! Today's suit is yet another sewing accomplishment for me, not that I actually made it, merely did a fair bit of adjusting to get it to fit. The suit itself came via Vinted, and the the brand is Zara. I instantly fell in love with it and paid little attention to the fact that it wasn't my size - the jacket is a large and the trousers extra large - but that wasn't going to stop me.

When it arrived I discovered that the trousers were a good four inches too big in both the waist and hips. I took a clothes peg and cinched in the extra material at the back and could see how they would work, provided I could do a bit of fine tuning. I proceeded to remove the waistband and discovered that the boucle material was uber fragile and very quick to unravel - eek!

I must point out that the colour of it is more of a zesty lime colour but seems to be coming across as a yellow hue. Anyway, I took two inches out of the front seam of the trousers and then an inch off of each dart at the back. This left me with excess fabric in the waistband which I used to create a tab to accomodate a button hole. All of this did take three attempts I hasten to add, but perseverance is becoming my middle name where sewing is concerned.

Not sure if the colour shows up any better in this shot.

So to summarise the look: I've added a ribbed bodysuit (from Vinted) along with these rather fabulous Dr Marten boots in floral canvas (again from Vinted) with an orange stretch belt (from Amazon) and the flower ring (a gift from a friend) and the other is an Emily Nixon one, paired with a gold coloured chain from Vinted. These sunglasses are by Quay Australia.

So that's look one, the fun version I'd call it thanks to the boots.

The second version is more restrained, smarter I suppose. I'd bought these boots especially to wear with the suit and they're almost the very same colour. 

The frilled blouse had just arrived that day, a gift from my sister who bought it from a charity shop in Inverness. That frill surely had my name on it when she saw it in the window! The overall look is more formal (in my eyes) but may still be quite flamboyant for others. 

The belt (from Primark) and necklace (from Vinted) go very well together don't you think? I've worn my old favourite mirror sunglasses from Quay Australia this time.

The brand of the boots is ASOS and I just love the retro square toe design! 

And this is version number three, a more summery look thanks to the sandals. 

This graphic bodysuit was another Vinted purchase, bought with this look in mind. I do like the staying-put nature of a bodysuit meaning no need to keep tucking it in, although sometimes they do try to migrate up into one's nether regions if they're a tad on the small size.

This was Friday's work outfit, aka version number one and it did earn lots of compliments. The weight of the fabric means the suit hangs well and I do love the gilt coloured chunky buttons too - they just give it a style edge. The natural coloured belt is stretchy and came from Primark a couple of summer's ago, the sunglasses again are by Quay Australia.

These orange sandals were from ASOS last summer and even though they're ridiculously high I still adore them. They're what I class as pre-lunch wear as by post-lunch my feet have always swollen and complain at being pinched into anything as tight/high as these ones.

My final accessory of the day is my swish orange handbag by Oliver Bonas. I've used it almost every day since I bought it last September. I love the detachable inner pouch which I can swap into any other bag so easily - such a clever idea!

Do please leave a comment to let me know which is your favourite version. As for me, I love them all!

                                                                            Anna x